Charlton's U17s were condemned to a 5-1 defeat by West Ham United in their opening Premier League Cup tie at Sparrows Lane on Tuesday afternoon.
The Hammers opened the scoring inside five minutes through Joshua Ajala. The centre-forward received the ball on the edge of the box, took it around Jude Sadler and fired into the back of the net from a tight angle.
Just 15 minutes later, West Ham came close to adding a second, but Luke Ashburn made two important blocks on the line to deny the visitors.
Ajala doubled his and West Ham's tally five minutes before the interval, steering a cross beyond Sadler.
The young Addicks halved the deficit just seven minutes after the restart through Micah Mbick. Having been brought down in the box, the number nine dusted himself and coolly dispatched his spot-kick into the bottom-left corner.
At the other end, West Ham were awarded a penalty of their and Ajala stepped up to complete his hat-trick from 12 yards.
Charlton were unfortunate to not score a second after producing a handful of opportunities, with Mbick coming the closest. The forward was slipped in on goal however his low effort was well saved by the keeper to deny him of his second.
The Hammers added another two goals in the final 16 minutes as the young Addicks looked for a way back into the contest.
Charlton: Sadler; Brown (Valentine 83), Dawkins, Cann, Ashburn (Belton 46); Safa (c) (McMillan 83), Tagoe, Mwamba (Wales 61); Fullah, Mbick, Reid
Subs (not used): Woodham
Goal: Mbick 52
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(Match report by Alex Forrest)
